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The Reinvention of Dustin Powers, International Manager of Mystery

....managing obscure nations, so you don't have to

Return of the tash...A couple of months ago, I started a journeyman career with a twist - it was to focus solely on international management. My original plan was to make extensive use of additional leagues and competitions through xml files and to add and remove leagues as I went from nation to nation. Alas, I learned too late about the issues connected with the Add/Remove Leagues feature so I've decided to restart with a new set-up that will allow me to travel the globe managing obscure nations without the need for any new leagues.Dustin Powers:

"Nobody knows where he came from or how a Sunday League footballer came to be an international mangement sensation... "

My alter-ego for this FM journey is Dustin Powers, a super secret football manager (so secret that nobody ever knew he existed, hence his 'sunday League' rep...) At least in international management, he doesn't have to deal with any other 'agents'

The AimStarting with the more obscure nations of international football, I hope to work my way up to more prestigous jobs with the ultimate aim of winning a World Cup. I may pick up a few continental and regional titles on the way as a bonus.

The plan is to only manage national sides, whether the full team or youth sides (I may also put myself in charge of the youth teams if I fancy a crack at an extra tournament). I'm also planning to start somewhere really small (somehwere New.... ) and then see if I can work my way up.

The following 'big' leagues have been loaded: England down to BSS/BSN (I hoping for a few players with Caribbean second nationalities to come through), France down to CFA (due to the number of African players/regens), Holland (ditto African/Caribbean players), MLS, South Africa and Australia (they'll hopefully attract some talent from nearby smaller nations).

I thought Oceania was a good a place as any to start - the lowest ranked teams and the fewest titles to win. This is really going to be a journey from the bottom-up!

I chose New Caledonia for a couple of reasons - first of all, as the game begins (summer 2011), they are about to host the Pacific Games; secondly, the Oceania Nations Cup comes just a few months after that; and finally, as a French territory, they should be competing in the Coupe de l'Outre Mere as well.

At the time of joining, the team is ranked 170th in the world. My first tasks will be to bring in some backroom staff, trawl through the local clubs for decent players (there are already quite a few regens to fill the teams up) and hope I can persuade a French star or two with seconbd nationality to join us!

My first match in charge will be the Pacific Games opener with Cook Islands. Tahiti and Wallis & Fortuna are the other teams in our group. I have no idea what to expect!

2011 Pacific GamesMy first action as boss of New Caledonia was to compete in the Pacific Games, which we happened to be hosting. This is a tournament for 12 Pacific Nations (including some who are not full FIFA members) divided into 3 groups of 4. The New Caledonian FA had directed me to make a good showing for the home crowd and reach the quarter-final stage. With two thrid-placed teams advancing, I was confident of doing just that.

First up were Cook Islands. The game was fairly even with few chances. In the end, home support and accuracy (Cook Islands had more shots but only hit the target once) made the difference as we won 2-1. It was a similar story in our next game against Tahiti with few chances. Again, it was us who made them count as two second half goals brought about a 2-0 win, putting us into the quarter-finals with a game to spare. Just as well because our final opponents, Wallis & Futuna, would be our toughest opponents by far (don't be fooled by their lack of FIFA membership!) Despite being outplayed, we managed to go into half-time level at 1-1. The second half was more of the same as our opponents attacked and we hung on. It seemed to be over when we went 2-1 down on 77 mins and had a man sent off shortly after. However, we somehow snatched an equaliser out of nowhere right on 90 mins and an unlikely point seemed to be in the bag. In one final cruel twist, we would be denied by a penalty conceded in injury time and that turned out to be the last kick, sending us to a 3-2 defeat.Group Tables

That defeat left us a bit downhearted for the quarter-final and I was unable to pick the players up as we again lost discipline and gifted Vanuatu two first-half penalties. We were unable to get back into the game after that and ended up losing 2-0, thus exiting the tournament.

FriendliesRevenge over Vanuatu would come as we visited their place in October and came away with a 1-0 win. Our final game of 2011 saw us take on Solomon Islands. An entertaining match finished 2-2 with both sets of fans going home happy.

The Year Ahead...The big event in 2012 will be the OCE Nations Cup, which will be hosted by Fiji. We have a tough group as we have been drawn with the host nation and regional superpower New Zealand. Vanuatu are also in our group but I think our chances of making it into the semi-final stage are slim...OCE Nations Cup Group Stage Draw

Excellent, the international managing man of mystery (as no one knows who he is) is back.

Cheers deltablue. My man does like to remain in the shadows

Originally Posted by Razer82

A pretty good start with New Caledonia, just a shame that you've been drawn with New Zealand in the OCE Nations Cup.

It will be tough... The New Zealand game will be a matter of keeping the scoreline respectable (and therefore the goal difference low). I'm confident of beating Vanuatu so it all comes down to whether or not we can get a result against Fiji...

We didn't have the best build up to the tournament with a 5-2 drubbing at the hands of Malidives in February. Just before the tournament began, we faced one of the weaker Oceanic sides, Papua New Guinea, and struggled to a 3-2 win. We then travelled to Fiji for one last warm up game against the host and somehow earned a throughly undeserved 1-0 win with an injury time goal. Despite those wins, the team wasn't clicking and I felt the tournament would be a struggle. Just for some extra pressure, we would have to get out of our group if we were to play any part in World Cup Qualifying come September...Group Stage
Toughest match first as we faced New Zealand. Predictably and depressingly, we were on the wrong end of a 5-0 scoreline. That meant our next game against Fiji was a must win if we were to have any chance of progressing. We got off to a cracking start with a goal after 2 minutes and, despite conceding an equaliser just before half-time, we looked much more assured an confident than we had in any preivous games under my management and came out with a 2-1 win. With Fiji to play the Kiwis in their last game, that meant a point against Vanuatu would be enough but we went one better as we won 1-0, getting our revenge for last year's Pacific Cup and advancing to the semis in the process.

The final group tables looked like this:

Semi-finalWe would play Tahiti in the semis, aside we had beaten in last year's Pacific Games. A pair of early goals from Taua, a 33 year-old Frenchman whom I had persuaded to turn out for New Caledonia in the twilight of his career, set us on the way with an early brace. We never looked back from there, adding a third before half-time and another after the break to cruise into the final 4-0 winners.
FinalAs you may have guessed, New Zealand also made it to the final after beating Samoa. All I was looking for was a better scoreline than the group stage result and that's what we got. In fact, it turned out to be an incredibly tight final with the Kiwis finding it tough to break us down despite their domination. They eventually scored before half-time but a game changing moment came early in the second half as Andrew Boyens lost his cool and got a red card. New Zealand were still the better side but they had to pull back slightly after that gicing us a chance to get back into it. We eventually mustered an attack just befoer the hour mark which resulted in a corner. We put the ball in the mixer and a scramble ensued with the ball finally ricocheting off defender, post and keeper before bouncing into the net. That was enough to take the game to extra time and, in the 92nd minute, New Zealnd saw red again leaving them down to 9 men! We sensed blood and started to play more boldly. Alas, that was probably a mistake as New Zealand counter-attecked to retake the lead midway through extra time. Any hopes of getting back into it ended as we had a man sent off and the match finished as a 2-1 defeat. Proud of the result but a bit disappointed as well that we couldn't do better when playing against 9...

After the tournament came two pieces of good news: first of all, our former Frenchman Taua was the only non-New Zelander to make the Oceania Dream Team; and making the semis meant we would be joining New Zealand, Tahiti and Samoa in the Oceania World Cup Qualifying Group later in the year!

Once the new domestic season got underway and a 3-0 friendly win over Tonga had been played, I received news that New Caledonia had been entered into the Coupe de l'Outre-Mer, a tournament for French overseas territories and one of the extra international tournaments added to my game. I wasn't sure what to expect as my New Caledonians and Ocaeanic rivals Tahiti were the only full FIFA members in the competition with the other 8 nations being Caribbean or African non-FIFA nations.

Group StageWe were drawn into Group B with Martinique, French Guiana, St Pierre and Miquelon and Guadeloupe. With only the top team progressing to the final, progressing beyond this phase was going to be tough but as the FA only expected us to 'learn from the experience', there was no pressure.

Martinique were our first opponents and were slated as heavy favourites. I was therefore happy to get out of the game with a 1-1 draw despite being outplayed. It was a bit of a surprise to learn that the fans were not happy after the game as we had let our lead slip late on but I wasn't too concerned by that. French Guiana were our next opponents and this time we were given more favourable odds. However, we were outplayed again but got lucky with a late equaliser, this time the 1-1 result making the fans happy. We were heavy favourites for the following match with St Pierre and Miquelon, the smallest nation in the competition. However, what should have been an easy win turned into a lucky escape. We were outplayed and in the end lucky to get a point at 0-0. That result sent confidence tumbling ahead of our final game with Guadeloupe and it showed. We just didn't perform and this time there was to be no lucky equaliser, no backs-to-the-wall defending an no wasteful opposition strikers as we were humiliated 9-1.... This time, I could understand the fans' displeasure.

The final group tables looked like this with us firmly rooted to the bottom:

For the record, Guadeloupe went on to beat Reunion in the final. It would now be my job to pick the team up for the World Cup Qualifying games....

Good to see you back up and running after the last thread's premature end. Did well with New Caledonia in the OFC Nations Cup, bit unlucky in the French overseas tournament though At least you have a chance to qualify for the World Cup though!

Good to see you back up and running after the last thread's premature end. Did well with New Caledonia in the OFC Nations Cup, bit unlucky in the French overseas tournament though At least you have a chance to qualify for the World Cup though!

Cheers PH71! The OFC Cup was a pleasant surprise but I was hoping to kick on from there... A few players from that squad were injured when it came to the Coupe DOM, which must have had an effect.

Originally Posted by Razer82

Well done on a great run to the final of the OFC Nations Cup. Also a great result to grab a closer game with New Zealand.

I'll keep quiet about the match with Guadeloupe.

Your silence is appreciated The records show we took New Zealand to extra time in the final and I'm happy with that.

Originally Posted by rancer890

Unlucky against Guadeloupe but IIRC someone managed them an FM ago and did pretty well.

Hope some familiar opposition will get you good results.

Guadeloupe is a team I would like a crack at in this save, even though they are not in FIFA. They obviously have some very good players and the Caribbean Championship and Gold Cup every two years would keep me busy...

Originally Posted by cerud

Tough beat against New Zealand in the Oceania Nations Cup. Too bad someone couldn't have taken care of the Kiwis for you!

I was hoping that they would somehow slip up against Samoa in the semis but it was not to be...

It all started off so well... Our OCE Nations Cup performance saw us surge up the World Rankings and our Coupe DOM disaster didn't see us drop down (I'M assuming that's because all the games we played were against non-FIFA members). However, the year would end a little prematurely for me due to our performance in the World Cup Qualifiers....

2014 World Cup Qualfying Oceania Section
Initially, I was confident we could perform well in this group (New Zealand aside) as we had easily taken care of Tahiti in the OCE Cup (and the Pacific Games last year) and Samoa were surprise qualifiers. However, we soon came back to earth with a bump as our campaign started with a 1-0 home defeat against Tahiti. That was followed by an expected 3-0 loss in New Zealand and I put the Tahiti result down to bad luck. Before the next round of qualifiers, we endured our ill-fated Coupé DOM performance and by the time the Samoa match came round, confidence was at an all time-low. We played well but just couldn't put the ball in the back of the net and it took a late equaliser to salvage a disappointing 1-1 draw. A month later, we faced Tahiti again but an insipid performance led to a repeat of the result from the first game, a 1-0 loss.

After the game, there was an ominous change of border colour on my FM screen and, sure enough, this message was waiting for me:

They didn't even wait for the World Cup Qualifiers to be completed... They didn't even wait until the final fixture of the calender year against New Zealand... So, despite meeting expectations at the Pacific games, exceeding them in the OCE Nations Cup, just being told to 'learn from the experience' in the Coupé DOM and World Cup Qualifying and taking New Caledonia nearly 40 places higher in the world rankings I get sacked, which just goes to show that the New Caledonian FA are just a bunch of...

A tear came to my eye at the end when the guy said "it's gone now"....

I was worried that finding another international job would take an age (I had been linked with several League 1 and 2 clubs before getting the sack but I will only go into club management as a last resort if I need a rep boost at any point). Luckily, when I checked the jobs page, I found that on the same day as my sacking, another manager had lost his job half a world away....

As I said above, on the same day that I was given the boot, the manager of Haiti was also sent packing. I immediately applied and...

In the end, I was out of work for less than a day!!

Haiti are currently ranked 145th in the world (less than ten spots below New Caledonia) and my predecessor was sacked for woefully underperforming. The expectations were to reach 'the Hex' as Rancer calls it in World Cup Qualifying (The Hex being the final qualifying group of six nations - Haiti didn't even make it past the first round) and the semis in the Caribbean Championship (they were eliminated in the second round). Those early exits mean I don't have much to do in terms of competitive games in the near future but that gives plenty of time to assess the current pool of players, add some staff and persuade some French players to join our cause.

Thanks Razer. It was a shame I was given the boot so early. I was hoping to stay a few years and bring a few regens through.

As for Haiti, they are already out of WCQ (part of the reson the previous manager was sacked) so I'll have to wait a few years (if I stay/last that long) for a crack. In the meantime, there's the next edition of the Caribbean Cup to look forward to.

Thanks for the comments guys. One of the annoying things with the sacking is that while I was poring over the national pool and filling the squad with players in the domestic league, my AI successor is now picking squads of 6 or 7 players with the rest all 'greys'. That has allowed them to pick up some decent results and maintain their world ranking. I'm going to arrange a friendly just to show them up

FriendliesWith my predecessor having failed to reach the FA's targets in the 2012 Caribbean Cup and 2014 World Cup Qualifying, we were left with just friendlies for my first year in charge, forced to watch from afar as the Gold Cup and the final round of qualifiers for Brazil 2014 took place. We had a decent year though, playing 9 internationals with a W5 D2 L2 record.

After the summer, we suffered a blip in our meeting with Puerto Rico as we lost 3-2. Having our goalkeeper sent off midway through the first half didn't help (one of those annoying ones when he handled the ball outside the area and gor a red even though there was not an attacker in sight...). A riproaring 3-3 draw with Panama followed before we closed the year with a 1-1 tie in Cuba and a home win over Surinam.

I was pleased with the performances overall and feel I have a decent core group of players. We do lack depth somewhat, however, especially in defence. Having a few players from the national pool retire (some due to age and some due to not having a club) hasn't helped. There are some exciting regen prospects but all of them have dual Hatian/french nationality and don't want to commit themselves yet.

Haiti U20sThe U20 side did have some competitive action in 2013 as they played in the CONCACAF U20 Championship and Jeux de la Francophonie, an U20 tournament for French-speaking nations. In the regional finals (which act as a qualifying tournament for the U20 World Cup), the yougsters crashed out in the group stage but they fared better in the Francophonie Games, reaching the quarter-finals before losing to Senegal. Alas, there is not much in the way of young talent to tell you about as, due to the probelm mentioned above with French/Haitian regens, the squad was mainly filled with greys...U20 Results

The Year AheadInternationally, the main focus this year will be the World Cup in Brazil. That means more friendlies for Haiti early in the year before the 2014 Caribbean Championship kicks offf in the autumn. Hopefully, a good performance there can see us qualify for the 2015 Gold Cup.

I love this idea and am enjoying the progress! Is there any way you could upload a .rar with all of the db edits you've used, or failing that link me to some of them? I'd like to try something similar.

World Rankings (top 21)
England lead the way after last year’s Euro win with Croatia, Russia and Switzerland also flying high. A lack of competitive action sees next year’s World Cup hosts Brazil down in 18th.

2014 World Cup Qualifiers
With excitement building ahead of next year’s World Cup, here’s a look at the draw for the group stage:

No real 'group of death' but several groups where it would be tough to pick the qualifiers!

And now a review of this year’s international competitions, great and small (screenshots of final game/group provided where available):

As long as the entire defence doesn't retire (a few more have been released by their clubs...), I hope to prove you right!

Originally Posted by whitesox

I love this idea and am enjoying the progress! Is there any way you could upload a .rar with all of the db edits you've used, or failing that link me to some of them? I'd like to try something similar.

Thanks whitesox. There are links to the extra files I used in the opening post. Unknown Hacker made the extra leagues (note that they only work with the default database) and Poop made the extra international comps.

Thanks whitesox. There are links to the extra files I used in the opening post. Unknown Hacker made the extra leagues (note that they only work with the default database) and Poop made the extra international comps.

Doh

Thanks, haha I actually had a bit of an epiphany after writing that post, and went and searched out poop in the editor's forums thinking it sounded familiar. Must be the name

A Few Friendlies First...
2014 started very quietly for us (for some reason when I tried to arrange friendlies the March date and one of the June dates were listed as 'unavailable'). That meant we didn't have a game until the summer when we hosted Trinidad & Tobago. We put in a good performance but were too wasteful in front of goal with the game finishing 1-1 when it could/should have been an easy victory. In September, we travelled to Canada and were on the wrong end of a beating, lucky to only lose 3-0. El Salvador were our next opponents and we put in a better performance but tired towards the end, eventually losing 3-1 after conceding two late goals. One more friendly was to be played before the Caribbean Championship kicked off, at home to Curaçao. A poor start saw us go two goals down early on. We played much better in the second half but could only pull one back as we suffered a third consecutive defeat...

Caribbean Cup Second RoundThose friendly results didn't give me much hope going into the regional championships. The pressure was on, however, as the Haitian FA were expecting us to reach the semis and therefore qualify for next year's Gold Cup. Having recieved a bye for the first round, we were drawn into a second round group with Grenada, the Dominican Republic and Surinam. That seemed easy enough on paper but, assuming we made the top two, we would then have to negotiate another group pahse in the third round to reach the target.

Grenada were our first opponents. The game was evenly balanced for the first hour before we started to assert ourselves, taking the lead on 64 minutes. As Grenada searched for an equaliser, we hit them on the break with two late goals to sew the match up. Or did we? Once we were three goals up, we switched off and let Grenada back into it as they scored two late goals of their own. In the end, we were relieved to hear the whistle blow while the scoreline was still 3-2. There was more late drama in the next game against the Dominican Republic too. Despite controlling much of the game, we were unable to make a breakthrough until the 87th minute when we took the lead. Alas, we switched off once again as our opponents scored an equaliser moments later and the game finished 1-1. In the final match against Surinam, we went behind early on and it looked like we might be crashing out. However, we rallied to equalise before half-time and take the lead after the break. This time we held our nerve to claim a precious win and guarantee our place in the next round.

The final 2nd Round tables looked like this:

We take a break before the next round with a couple of friendlies scheduled for November. Getting through the next group and into the semis will be tough though as we have been drawn with host nation Trinidad & Tobago and defending champions Jamaica. St. Vincent complete the four.

Autmun Friendlies
With the two-week break between the second and third rounds coinciding with the November international week, I arranged a couple of friendlies, this time taking Haiti to Europe to play Northern Ireland and Scotland. We were outclassed in both matches but did our best to keep the scorelines respectable, losing 3-0 at Windsor Park and 1-0 in Glasgow - our one shot of the game was a very good chance in the last minute as well that forced a fne save from the Scottish keeper.

After that, it was back to the warmer climes of Port of Spain to play out our third round group in the Caribbean Championship. Our poor friendly form carried over to the first game as we faced favourites Jamaica and got whipped 4-0. We then faced the weakest team left in the competition, St Vincent but something was still not clicking with the team as we failed to take control of the game and only sneaked a win thanks to an own goal. Luckily for us, Trinidad & Tobago had only managed a point against St Vincent and had then been stuffed by Jamaica meaning we only needed a point from our match with them to claim second place. We finally started playing football and went into an early 2 goal lead. T&T pulled one back before half-time but we soon re-asserted our lead going 3-1 up. We then had our now customary loss fo composure as the host nation swarmed forward and levelled tha match with just over 10 minutes to go. I made them favourites to get the win they needed to go though at our expense at that stage but it seemed their luck finally ran out as we got a goal on the break with 2 minutes left to grab an epic 4-3 win and secure our place in the last 4.

All of which meant the final groups looked like this:

We face Puerto Rico in the semis while Jamaica take on Grenada. Having scraped through to this point, I'm now getting a sneaky feeling that we can make it to the final and then... who knows?

And two good pieces of news to finish this post on: reaching the semis means I have met the FA's target for this competition and it also means we have earned a spot in next summer's Gold Cup!

Semi-final
Puerto Rico were all that stood between us and a place in the final. They had beaten us in a friendly fixture last year but that was a close game that they only got into after my keeper had been sent off so I thought we had a decent chance. It turned out I was right as we controlled the game from start to finish and won comfortably 3-0. No loss of concentration or panicky final ten minutes this time!

Final
So it was to be Jamaica again, the team that had beaten us so easily in the previous round. But football is a funny game and we somehow managed to confound all pre-match predicitions by storming into a two-goal lead before half-time. The Jamaicans regrouped and came out stronger in the second half. I was worried when they pulled a goal back but we defended solidly after that and, except for a shot bouncing back off the post near the end, they never went close. Against all odds, we held on to win 2-1 and claim the Caribbean Championship!!

It was good to get back to competitive actiont his year after a year of friendlies in 2013. And even better, we claimed the title to become Caribbean Champions. We may have scraped and stumbled our way there but no-one can deny us the glory!

Our form in firendlies suffered a bit, mainly due to my conscious decision to take on higher ranked opponents. That in turn resulted into a small slide in the world rankings but I'm sure we'll rise again once the Caribbean Championship is factored in.

Key Players
Here are a few of this year's top performers from the squad:

Steward Ceus (GK) - a dcent goalkeeper is always a big pplus in a minnow team and that's what we have in this guy. My onloy concern is that he was waived by his MLS club Columbus earlier in the year and has yet to find new employers.

Romain Genevois (DRC) - Has the best stats of any player in the squad and also plays club football at the highest level with Stade-Rennais in Ligue 1.

Regillio Nooitmeer (DRC) - our most consistent performer whether at right back or central defence. Injuries to othe rplayers meant he played some games at left-back and in midfield as well.

Pascal Millien (AML) - did a great job of cutting in from the wing to provide some crucial assists and goals.

Jean-Dimmy Jéoboam (ST) - this guy was a fringe player without an international goal to his name before this year but he came good at the Caribbean Championships, finally breaking his duck and then going on to add three more including the opener in the final.

I also got Belony Dumas to chose Haiti over the country of his birth France. He's not the best defender we've got but he adds much needed depth to the squad and I hope more French-Haitians will follow in his footsteps soon.

The Year Ahead...
The big focus this year will be the Gold Cup in June. I don't expect us to do much against the likes of the U.S.A. and Mexico but a little run to the knock-out stages would be nice. Beyond that, qualifying for Russia 2018 will start soon but I'm not sure if I'll stick around that long... Too many players are retiring and not enough regens have appeared yet who are eligible/want to play for us (a downside of not having a Haitian league file loaded). But with the Asian Cup, African Cup of Nations and Copa America all taking place this year, I'm hoping some new jobs will come up.

World Rankings (top 20)
England are still on top with Uruguay second after their World Cup win. Croatia are still up there in 3rd with Holland and Portugal also flying high after good showings in Brazil. Scandanavian fans will be pleased to see Finland and Iceland doing so well while Brazil are still waiting for a return to the top 20:

The big one this year was the World Cup in Brazil. The hosts were a big disappointment, crashing out in the group stage with 3 draws. Spain were even worse, picking up a mere two points. England got out of the group stage only to lose on penalties to eventual semi-finalists Switzerland in the 2nd Round. After an exciting tournament, the final was predictably drab with Uruguay finally beating a Portuguese side reduced to 9 men with a single goal in extra time.
Here are all the tournament results from this year:

Success in the Caribbean Championship had secured us a spot at the 2015 Gold Cup, hosted as ever by the U.S.A. With 8 of the 12 teams in the group stage advancing, I was hopeful of reaching the knockout rounds. I say 'was' because this is the draw we got:

That's right - the host nation, Honduras (who reached the quarters at the 2014 World Cup and have just won the Central American Nations Cup - you'd think they'd keep the two regional championship winners apart) and Canada, who beat us 3-0 in a friendly not so long ago. It's going to be a tough three games....

FriendliesThe year started for Haiti with a few warm-up games ahead of the summer's continental competition - the Gold Cup. Our first action of the year was a visit to Panama, where we played out a very even game with the 1-1 scoreline fair to both sides. We then played one of the craziest matches I have ever seen in FM as we took on St Kitts & Nevis in a friendly. We went 1-0 up, then 3-1 down before storming back into a 5-3 lead. St Kitts then levelled the match at 5-5 before a late own goal gave us a 6-5 win! It was quite a game but one that raised some doubts about our defence and team composure... Those fears were worsened in the next game as we lost 2-1 at home to St Vincent, conceding twice in the last 20 minutes. Just before the Gold Cup commenced, some confidence was restored with a 3-0 win over Curaçao but, with a tough group to come, I wasn't hopeful of our chances.

Gold Cup Group Stage
Ahead of announcing the squad, I was hoping the prospect of competitive international football would entice some French-Haitian youngsters over to our side but it didn't happen. Injuires had left me with barely enough fit players in the national pool to name a squad and with U.S.A., Canada and Honduras as our opponents, I knew it would be tough. Things got tougher after the first game as we were completely outplayed by Central American Nations Cup winners Honduras in a 4-1 defeat. That was disapponting as we had taken an early lead and went in at half-time level. That meant our next game against Canada was a must win if we were to have any chance of going through. Again, we were outplayed and lost 3-1 all but ending our hopes. The final match against the U.S.A. wasn't much better as, despite playing against ten men for most of the game, we couldn't create any chances and lost 3-0.

After the tournament, I decided to end my association with the Haitian FA. It had been fun but with several players retiring each season and not much new talent coming through, it seemed like a good time to go:

...but it's time to test my Honduras

I didn't stay unemployed for long as the manager of Honduras quit his post at the end of the Gold Cup. I applied and...

This is a pretty big job compared to my two previous outings as Honduras have a serious claim to be one of the top sides in the region behind U.S.A. and Mexico. World Cup quarter-finalists in 2014, current Central American Champions and semi-finalists at the recent Gold Cup means expectations are high. An immediate goal has to be qualifcation for the 2018 World Cup. The CONCACAF qualifying section is already underway but we won't enter until the third round, which is a group phase. In the meantime, I will arange some friendlies to get a closer look at the players.

There are a few well-known players still active in the squad such as Wilson Palacios and Hendry Thomas. One exciting thing about this job following the limited selection opitons with Haiti is the number of regen youngsters available, the best of whom I have highlighted below:

Behiker Rodas - great to have a young goalkeeper good enough to be first choice. As with many of his compatriots, he currently plays in Costa Rica for Saprissa but is being tracked by several Mexican and MLS clubs. Jorge Rodriguez - also plays for Saprissa. As of yet uncapped but I will hand him his debut in defence soon.Nelson Suazo - After a couple of promising seasons in the domestic league for Olimpia, this young central midfielder made a surprise move to Al-Ahly in Egypt and is already a regular in the national side.Noel Faustino Izaguirre - Another uncapped Saprissa player but looks like he could push Suazo for a first team place.Efrian Diaz - This guy looks a real talent! Also came from Olimpia before moving to Saprissa and then Toronto FC and he has scored goals everywhere he has played. An impressive scoring record at international level also make him an automatic selection.

With these youngsters mixed in with the 'old hands', I'm pretty confident we can make it to Russia 2018!

After a disappointing but expectedly so Gold Cup campaign, I resigned from Haiti but did not stay unemployed for long as Honduras came calling after the tournament was done. With the nation seeded into the third round of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying, I had a look at the players with three firendlies and was farily happy with what I saw. First of all, we took on Colombia, ranked 9th in the World following their run to the Copa America final, and came away with a credible 1-1 draw. A nil-nil tie with Venezuela left me slightly frustrated but there were encouraging signs in our attacking play. Those promising signs became match-winning reality in our final friendly of the year as we beat the US in their own backyard by a whopping 4-1 scoreline! Bring on World Cup Qualifying!!

This will just be a mini round-up as I fogot to take screenshots of most of the finals and the match detilas are no longer available... Nevermind, perhaps a streamlined overview of the major finals only is the way to go.

CONCACAF 2018 World Cup Qualifying 3rd Round
In other news, the draw has been made for the 3rd Round of World Cup Qualifying in the North American zone, the point at which Honduras enter along with fellow seeds U.S.A., Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica (unfortunately, my former nation Haiti missed out losing their final 2nd Round match to St Lucia, who snatched top spot in their group as a result). I'm pretty pleased with the draw which gives us a decent chance of making the top two and qualifying for the final stage (FA minimum expectation)

At the start of the new year, I got a message in my inbox about the upcoming Olympic qualifiers. As there was no designated manager for the U23 side, I was offered the chance to hire someone, appoint a coach or take charge myself. With World Cup Qualifying not kicking off until the summer and no spring friendlies arranged, I thought 'why not?' and packed my bags for a couple of weeks in Panama.

The qualifying tournament is simple enough - 8 teams divided into two groups of four with the top two advancing to the semis. Win through to the final and you've qualified for the Olympic Games. The Mexican U23s would be the toughest opponents in our group but with Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica making upo the four, I was confident of making the semis. I was able to call upon a few of the younger regulars from the senior squad and took the chance to get a closer look at some players from the U20 squads of the present and recent past.

Group Stage
We got off to a flyer against Trinidad & Tobago U23s. An early lead from Diaz, drafted in from the senior squad, set us on our way and a red card for our opponents a few minutes later put us firmly in control. It was then a matter of 'how many?' with the answer being five. Mexico U23s would surely provide a sterner test in the next game and so it proved as we played out a tightly balanced game. We took the lead just before half-time but the Mexicans equalised just after the break and it would finish 1-1. That result gave us a lot of confidence going into the final game and we made it count as we hammered Jamaica U23s 6-0, allowing us to qualify in style as group winners!

Semi-final
We faced Costa Rica U23s in our semi with not only a place in the final at stake but also a place in the Rio Olympics for the winner. Our form and confidence from the group stage carried over as we dominated the match. Again we benefitted from our opponents ill-discipline as, despite no red cards, we won two penalties, both converted, as we cruised to a 4-0 victory, thus bringing up this message:

Final
Which just left the small matter of the final to play. With qualificaiton for both us and Mexico already assured, the game was a bit meaningless but a trophy is a trophy so I out out my best side, hoping to go one better than our draw in thr group stage. This time, it was not to be however. It was a close game again but Mexico just edged it and that was reflected in the 2-1 scoreline. Still, we did well to qualify, speaking of which, here's the draw for the Olympic Games Football Tournament:

That looks like a finely balanced group. A lot depends on how strong the youth of the other nations are but, with a bit of luck, we could make it to the knockout phase.

FriendlyBefore World Cup Qualifying got underway, I put my boys through their paces with a friendly against regional powerhouse, Mexico. I was delighted when we raced into a two goal lead but it wasn't to last as Mexico gradually came back into the game and grabbed themselves a 2-2 draw. Although we couldn't hold on for a famous win, it was a promising sign that we can match the best in our qualifying zone.

World Cup Qualifying Third RoundBefore heading to Rio for the Olympics, it was back to action with the senior side for our first two World Cup Qualifying matches. We started with a home game against Curaçao, which was won in style. Six players got their names on the scoresheet as we marked my first competitive game in charge with a 6-1 victory. A few days later, we made the trip to the Sir Viv Richards Stadium to take on Antigua & Barbuda. This game was a little tougher as we fell behind early on and had to fight our way back to a 2-1 win. Still, that gives us six points and puts us joint top with U.S.A., our opponents when qualifying resumes in the autumn.

Just ahead of the Olympic games squad annoucement, I got this job offer:

I was tempted but it is too soon with me having just taken the Honduras job. In the context of this career and what my aims are, I think I will pass on any other South American or major European jobs for the time being.

Warm-up Games
Before heading to Rio, we hosted the New Zealand U23 side for a pre-tournament friendly. That proved easy enough as we strolled to a 5-1 win inspired by a hat-tirck from star striker Efrain Diaz, who is now attracting a lot of interest from Spanish and Italian clubs. We then played Brazilian club side Juvetude on the eve of the tournament, picking up a 2-0 win.

Group Stage
For the Olympics, I had named an 18-man squad taking Kuban's Jhonny Palacios, Espanyol's Emilio Izaguirre and Birmingham's Hendry Thomas as my three overage players. I had also been able to call upon several under-23 senior squad regulars meaning I had 12 full internationals at my disposal. I was hoping to make it through to the quarters at least. South Korea U23s were our first opponents and it turned out to be a very tight game. We had more of the ball but it was difficult for both teams to create chances and, in the end, 0-0 was a fair result. It was then I realised I was the victim of an FM bug - one of my overage players, Hendry Thomas, had picked up an international suspension following two yellows in our World Cup Qualifiers. I though the ban wouldn't apply for the Olympi,cs but when I saw he was unavailable for the South Korea game, I thought he would be back for the second match. However, he ended up banned for the entire tournament (despite having 'banned for ONE international match' next to his name ) meaning I had only 17 players to chose from and one of my overage slots had been wasted...

Our next game was against Cameroon and again, it was a tight affair. We were matching our opponents for most of the game but tired towards the end. That cost us as two goals in the last 13 minutes consigned us to defeat. We therefore had to beat Romania in the last game to have any chance of going through. It soon became clear that we were second best in the match however and we were lucky to only lose 1-0 going home with a single point and no goals scored.

Chile is in the Olympics as well. Bigger nation. You're staying cause you've just joined Honduras and want to see them though? I can understand that

Yea, that made me think about it a little bit but I'm not so keen on South America at this point - I've managed there on previous FMs and I've found that, with the 18 game World Cup Qualifying tournament and the Copa America coming in a 4-year cycle, it soon gets repetitive... Also, as I said before, I want to manage a few smaller nations first before I go for a big/biggish job.

World Cup Qualifying Third RoundOnce the football world had returned from its summer break, we were straight in the thick of it with a visit to Washington to take on the U.S.A. An early own goal from the home side gave us a great start but, alas, that was about as good as it got as the Americans had gone 2-1 up by half-time and then added two more goals in the second half to record an emphatic 4-1 win. We responded well in our next game away to Curaçao as we secured a comfortable 3-0 win without letting our opponents have a single shot on goal. That result meant qualification for the final round of qualifying was assured for both us and the U.S.A. rendering the last two games as dead rubbers. We were determined to finish strongly though and that's what we did as we stuffed Antigua & Barbuda 6-0 and then got some sweet revenge over the U.S.A. with a glorious 4-0 win that gave us top spot in the group:

In the new year, we will enter the final phase - a 6 team group featurşng all of the qualifiers from the third phase (known locally as 'The Hex') with the top three going striaght to the World Cup and the 4th place team going into a play-off with one of the Asian nations.

Friendlies
We finished the year with two friendlies in november for which I took my Honduran squad to Europe. First, we visitied Limerick to take on the Irish. In an even game, we had the lead for a long period of the game before conceding a late equaliser as the game finished 1-1. We then moved on to Wrexham to play Wales but we couldn't reach the same level of performance, losing 4-1.

A decent first full year in charge as we made it to the final round of World Cup Qualifying and gave the youngsters some tournament experience at the Olympics. Next year will be busy as we start with the Central American Nations Cup in January, which acts as a regional qualifier for the Gold Cup. In order to reach the latter tournament, we will have to get out of this group in the former:

That's two tournaments (potentially) with ten games of World Cup Qualifying to play as well (and maybe some play-off games at the end of it!) The aims have got to be: win the Central American Nations Cup, make the knockout rounds of the Gold Cup and qualify for Russia 2018. Wish me luck!

There was not much in the way of major tournament action this year with most nations focusing on the start of a new World Cup Qualifying Campaign. There were two continental championships, however, as well as the Olympics and the Arab Nations Cup to keep football fans busy:

Warm-up MatchesDespite the tournament starting in January, we had a chance to play a couple of warm-up games. First, we played host to Paraguay and did well to come from behind twice to earn a 2-2 draw. We then headed to Costa Rica for the tournament itself and played a friendly against domestic powerhouse Saprissa. It turned out to be an easy win as most of their best players were on international duty for the tournament and we strolled to a 4-0 win.

Injury CrisisWhile the warm-up games went well, we suffered a series of injuries to the squad I had selected. For some reason that I could not fathom (beyond it being an annoying bug in the game), I was not allowed to call up replacement players before the tournament started. This was despite me naming my squad a full two weeks beforehand and injuries ocurring literally the day after the squad was announced. In the end, we had 5 players out before the action even got underway, including star striker Diaz:

Group Stage
The time soon came to forget about injuries and get on with the tournament. Our easiest game was first with Nicuragua offering little resistance as we won 3-1. We were also in control against Panama, a game in which Wilson Palacios became Honduras' most-capped player, but we struggled to get our shots on target only winning 1-0 despite our dominance. That meant our match with El Salvador was just to decide who would top the group. Our opponents took the initiative and the lead early on and we were lucky to pull the scores level before half-time. We were on the backfoot in the second half as well but luck was on our side as we got a penalty 20 minutes from time to secure a 2-1 win and top spot in the group.

Semi-final
That set up a clash with Guatemala, which we were heavy favourites to win. In spite of the pre-match predictions, we had a tough time taking control of the game, twice falling behind before a goal from young midfielder Nelson Suazo seven minutes from time gave us a 3-2 win.

Final
Onto the final then to face host nation Costa Rica. Could I add the Central American Cup to the Caribbean one I had won two years ago? We certainly played well enough to win but, after riding our luck against El Salvador and Guatemala, it was our turn to be on the wrong end of the scoreline as Costa Rica made the most of their chances to win 2-1.

In the end, I was disappointed to lose, especially as the FA had expected a win. Luckily, they were appeased by our qualificaiton for the Gold Cup, where we will get our chance for revenge over the Costa Ricans:

Between the Copa Centroamericano and the Gold Cup, we had five World Cup Qualifiers to play as we attempted to make it to next year's tournament in Russia.

We had the easiest game first as we played Panama at home. True to form, we won 3-0, young stiker Moran stepping up from the Olympic squad to the senior side and bagging a brace. All the optimism that came with that match was soon ruthlessly wiped out as we were on the wrong end of a 3-0 scoreline away to El Salvador. Reeling from that setback, we sent to Canada needing to get back on track. We did not play well again but this time defended better, holding out for a 0-0 draw.

Then, we had the toughest opponents to face - Mexico and the U.S.A. We put in a decent effort at home to the Mexicans but they were too strong for us and cruised to a 4-2 win, Carlos Fierro scoring a hat-trick. With just four points from four games, we really needed a result away to the U.S.A. to stay in touch with the top three. A Jozy Altidore brace early in the second half made it seem as though we were on the way to another defeat but we rallied with young defender Jorge Rodriguez getting a brace of his own, the equaliser coming in the 88th minute.

That means we sit in 4th place (which means a spot in a play-off agsinst New Zealand) at the halfway point, 5 points behind the automatic qualificaiton spots. We need to play a lot better when the qualifying campaign resumes after the Gold Cup

Cheers deltablue - I think we can turn it around as we have Canada and El Salvador to play at home and one more game with Panama, all three of which should be winnable. One heavy defeat aside, we have a decent recent record against the US too so if we can beat them at home, that should be enough. Mexico away will just be a matter of damage limitation though!

Warm-Up MatchesHot on the heels of World Cup Qualifiers against Mexico and the U.S.A., we hosted a full-strength Argentina. Messi and Agüero made sure it would not be a confidence building exercise as they bagged a brace each in a 4-2 win. Needing an easier opponent to get confidence back up, we went to Bermuda and took on the Bermuda Hogges. Seven goals later (eight if you count the fact that thier goal was scored by one of our defenders) we had put smailes back on our faces and were ready for the tournament.
Group Stage
Our first opponents were Costa Rica, the same side who had beaten us just a few months ago in the Copa Centramericano final. An early goal set us on our way and we were dominating the game by half-time. I warned the players not to get complacent and that seemed to do the job as Diaz doubled our lead ten minutes after the restart. However, it seems we got complacent about not getting complacent and Costa Rica took advantage. 10 minutes after Diaz's goal, we found ourselves 3-2 down - a penalty, an own goal and our opponents momentum doing for us. There was no way back after that as we started the tournament in the worst way possible.

That made our clash with Canada crucial. We were all over them but the goal was just not coming. Sure enough, we found ourselves behind as Canada's one and only shot on target found the back of the net early in the second half. Luckily, my team responded well and Diaz had soon equalised. Try as we might, we couldn't get the winner after that and had to settle for a 1-1 draw.

Despite a solitary point from the opening two games, I was still hopeful of going through as one of the best third-placed sides as our final game was against one of the weaker sides in the competition Puerto Rico. Again we dominated but this time we were more clinical in front of goal. Apart from a brief wobble when a shot bounced off the post, hit our keeper and went in, we were in control and cruised to a 3-1 win.

In the end, that was enough to qualify for the quarter-finals but we would need to improve to progress further than that.

Quarter-finals
A little bit of luck as we avoided the U.S.A. and Mexico, instead being paired with Jamaica in the last eight. It was an even game but we were more efficient in front of goal. Youngster Moran would be the hero, scoring twice as we won 2-0 and advanced to the last four.

Semi-finals
Mexico awaited in the semis. I told the players to do it for the fans and they did put in a good effort. Alas, it would not be enough as two goals from Javier Hernandez consigned us to a 2-0 defeat.

It won't surprise you to learn that the U.S.A. coach was sacked after the tournament... Interesting to see Costa Rica do so well - a good thing they didn't make it to the final stage of World Cup Qualifying!

I was satisfied with a semi-final appearance as were the Honduran FA. No shame in a defeat to Mexico. Hopefully, that will give us some confidence going into the final round of World Cup Qualifiers.

Once the tournament was over, Mario Martinez was picked in the Gold Cup Dream Team, the only Honduras player to receive such an honour. There was also a brief scare as one of our top players Emilio Izaguirre announced his retirement from international football but, luckily, a quick chat and the promise of another World Cup to come resulted in him changing his mind.